Technology and Cultural Tectonics: Shifting Values and Meanings

193 Pages·2013·1.235 MB·English

by  F. Allan Hanson (auth.)

TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURAL TECTONICS
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Technology and Cultural
Tectonics
Shifting Values and Meanings
F. Allan Hanson
TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURAL TECTONICS
Copyright © F. Allan Hanson, 2013.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2013 978-1-137-34201-0
All rights reserved.
First published in 2013 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-46524-8 ISBN 978-1-137-33836-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137338365
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: August 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Louise,
who agitated the follicles
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Chapter 1
The Technological Society 1
Chapter 2
Honor Thy Father(s) and Thy Mother(s) 11
Chapter 3
All in the Family 39
Chapter 4
Prenatal Testing and Its Discontents 59
Chapter 5
The Frozen and the Dead 75
Chapter 6
Time and Identity 101
Chapter 7
Thinking in a New Key 121
Chapter 8
Scales of Time and Space 139
Chapter 9
Expansions 153
Notes 165
Bibliography 171
Index 1 85
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Acknowledgments
O
ne of the pleasures of writing a book is the opportunity to thank
those institutions and persons who lent their assistance in various
ways. In the first category is my own University of Kansas, for a 2011
sabbatical leave that enabled me to build the necessary momentum
for research and manuscript preparation. Numerous people are in
the second category. Melanie Thernstrom gave me further informa-
tion about the family she is building around her “twiblings.” Wendy
Kramer shared her thoughts on donor siblings, gained from her expe-
riences in managing the Donor Sibling Registry. Four or five mothers
who have used that and other websites to make contact with others
who have had children from the sperm of the same donor very con-
siderately answered my many questions and on occasion entered into
extensive email discussions with me. Adrienne Brown came to my
Technology and Society class to describe her meeting with her half
sister (from the same anonymous donor) and answered a number of
follow-up questions I posed later. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev helped me
work through some of the complexities of suits for wrongful life in
Israel, and Mike Neuenschwander discussed with me his ideas for
a limited liability persona. Mike Kautsch helped me work through
some legal issues, Fred Woodward provided welcome advice about
publication strategies, and Ty Kaufman told me of how he came to
issue the first arrest warrant for DNA in the United States. Richard
DeGeorge read through several drafts of earlier papers I wrote on
composite agency, and his comments and criticisms helped shape the
form that concept takes in c hapter 9 . Extended discussions with Evan
Selinger, Rex Martin, and Peter Schanck have enriched my under-
standing of many of the topics covered in this book. Janet Satz kindly
permitted her mixed-media collage “Gore Range” to be used as the
cover art, greatly enhancing the book’s appearance.
The person who gave the most intensive and sustained assis-
tance is my wife Louise. As with previous articles and books I have